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Iron Man 2 (2010)

So here is the second Iron Man movie and the third installment in what became the Marvel Cinematic Universe MCU. This is the first of those films that really embraced the concept that these movies are all tied together and while the star may be Iron Man or Thor or Captain America, other heroes will have parts in the film and be important. The most important part of this film is that it gave us the hot, sexy, and deadly S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanov played by the hotter and sexier Scarlett Johansson.

We pick up the story in Iron Man 2 with Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man,) dealing with the consequences of his announcement to the world at the end of Iron Man that he is said Iron Man. He has US Senator Stern, played by Gary Shandling (Over the Top,) who wants the government to take away his Iron Man suits. He has a competing weapons developer Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile,) who is trying to keep his defense contract and develop his own Iron Man suits. He has Ivan Vanko a.k.a. Whiplash, played by Mickey Rourke (Man on Fire,) who holds him responsible for the death of his father and develops his own suit that is powered by the same technology that powers the Iron Man suit. Lastly, and perhaps his greatest enemy, is the power supply that is keeping the shrapnel out of his heart that he received in the first film. The supply is creating a poison throughout his body and he is unable to find a cure. His imminent demise has caused him to make some questionable choices and alienate everyone around him.

So when I first saw the movie I wasn’t as excited as the first Iron Man because I thought that the Whiplash villain was a downgrade over the War Monger/Obadiah Stane character in the first one. In fact the first fight between the two only last so long because Tony is not in his suit for most of the fight. Once he gets the suit on the fight is over in about 20 seconds. Plus Mickey Rourke looks bad. I thought that most of his looks in the film Sin City were makeup but a lot of it is actually Mickey Rourke brutalizing his body over the last 30 years. I know he became a boxer but damn.

But as I watched the movie more and more I realized that Vanko, Hammer, and the Senator really aren’t the villain in this film, it’s Tony himself dealing with the disease. I’m sure it may have been obvious to everyone else but it wasn’t to me. So this is the basis for the fights he was having between his assistant/girlfriend Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man,) as well as his good friend Lt. Col. Rhodes, this time played by Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda,) and this fight creates the new super hero, War Machine, that we see in future films. But the fact that Tony pushes away his friends to try and do this alone is a cool character development that was a nice addition to the franchise.

In addition to adding War Machine to the MCU we get the aforementioned ultra-hot, sexy, gorgeous Scarlett Johansson (The Island,) as Natasha Romanov/Black Widow. She works for S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson (Kingsman: The Secret Service,) and she has more of a role in the film than Pepper Potts character and really becomes a star in her own right in this film. She continues to get larger roles as the MCU continues its films as she played large parts in both Avengers films as well as Captain America: Winter Soldier, which yeah for men because even in fight scenes, and yes I know there is a stunt double, she is damn hot.

I would also like to give a shout out to both RDJ as Stark for constantly having to act with green screens and the such because there are so many special effects intensive scenes and to have to have so many close ups and make so many hand motions and movement in general and be so good at it has to be practice and a tribute to his skill. The other shout out goes to Sam Rockwell for playing Hammer as a very enjoyable d-bag. Every time he is on screen he is just impossibly annoying and funny. The dance he has at the start of his Stark Expo presentation is excellent in is douchebag-ness, makes me laugh every time.

Ok, one more shout out to Don Cheadle taking over for the Rhodey roll from Terrance Howard. It became news that Howard was going to have to take a pay cut to keep the roll and his pay went to RDJ and Howard didn’t like that. While he wasn’t bad as Col. Rhodes, in my opinion, Cheadle brought more humor to the roll and I have never seen Howard in a comedic roll of any kind. So again, Howard is not bad, but Cheadle is much better.

Oh and lest I forget, even though its a very small barely a 10 second part, the very gorgeous Olivia Munn (Ride Along 2,The Babymakers) makes a cameo as a reporter at the Stark Expo. Yes, its important not to forget.

Since this movie is 6 years old most of the world has seen it and a great majority of those who saw it has it in their collection. While I do like this movie I still feel it’s a step below the top tier of MCU movies Iron Man and Captain America: Winter Soldier. But this is still a very good film and better than a lot of action movies out there.

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